Pleasant View had gone into foreclosure after its previous owner, Chattanooga-based UIGTN LLC, defaulted on a 2009 loan for $2.5 million through The Maclellan Foundation.

The multifamily complex is composed of two parcels on either side of Steele Road between Dellwood Avenue to the north and Whitney Avenue to the south.

The west parcel, 3085 Steele, is 6.4 acres with 155 units built in 1973. The east parcel is 4 acres with 104 units built in 1975. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2013 combined appraisal is $2.4 million.

In conjunction with the purchase, Pleasant View Acquisitions filed a $381,250 deed of trust (purchase money) with J. Michael Murphy.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Metropolitan Bank Raising Capital

It’s full steam ahead at Metropolitan Bank, which is completing a rights offering as part of a move to raise capital to support the bank’s growth for the next few years, according to Metropolitan founder, president and CEO Curt Gabardi.

A Metropolitan spokesman said the amount of capital raised will be $5.6 million.

“We didn’t want to raise too much or too little,” Gabardi told The Daily News. “Just enough for organic growth purposes, because we were already well-capitalized by regulatory standards. (The offering) was well-received, and we should have it finalized over the next few weeks.”

Metropolitan celebrated its fifth birthday earlier this year.

“We continue to be well-pleased and proud of the year-to-date performance in spite of the economy and record low interest rates,” Gabardi said. “That’s in spite of the fact we have been spending heavily especially in Nashville, with the opening of our new West End office, and bringing on a significant number of new bankers. We could be dropping a whole lot more to the bottom line, but we’re investing in the business. Expanding geographically in Memphis – that plan is underway now. It comes from a continued desire to take on talented bankers.”

– Andy Meek

Nineteenth Century Club Demolition Appealed

The planned demolition of the Nineteenth Century Club building on Union Avenue has been halted by an appeal of a Chancery Court decision upholding the sale of the historic property.

Preservationists and former club members filed an appeal Friday, Sept. 20, challenging Chancellor Walter Evans’ ruling to uphold the sale of the property. While Evans upheld the sale, he left in place until Sept. 20 a temporary injunction that prevented demolition of the building and froze the cash involved in the sale in order to give plaintiffs in the civil case time to appeal.

Current and former members of the club filed suit over the sale, saying it did not meet the organization’s bylaws or follow state law.

The Union Group LLC acquired the property for $550,000 in January after winning a competitive bidding process. The Nineteenth Century Club decided to donate the sale proceeds to the Children’s Museum of Memphis.

The fate of the property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has ignited a long-smoldering debate over the proper design and use of property in the city core, pitting everyone from preservationists to architects and community members against The Union Group, which has said it intends to raze the structure and build a commercial property in its place.

– Amos Maki

White to Oversee Frayser High School

Former Westside Middle School principal Bobby White will lead Frayser High School into the Achievement School District.

White heads the Frayser Community Schools charter group, which is one of several charter school groups the state-run district has said it will match with some of the state’s lowest-performing schools for the 2014-2015 school year, the third year of the district.

The matches of charter organizations to schools are to be announced in December. But district superintendent Chris Barbic said last week Frayser Community Schools will be paired with Frayser High School.

White is a 1990 graduate of the high school, which he intends to rename Martin Luther King Jr. Prep School on the Frayser High School campus.

The charter organization is the first for the Frayser cluster of schools the Achievement School District has focused on since the 2012-2013 school year by directly running elementary and middle schools that feed into Frayser High School.

– Bill Dries

Mississippi Casino Revenue Rises Slightly

Mississippi casino revenue rose slightly in August compared to the same month last year.

Mississippi Department of Revenue figures show casinos took in about $179.1 million in August, compared to about $178.4 million a year ago.

The 12 casinos in coastal counties won about $90 million – a 4.3 percent increase over last August’s $86.3 million. The 18 riverboat casinos from Tunica to Natchez won about $89 million, down 3.3 percent from $92.1 million last year.

Casino revenue increased for only the second month this year in Mississippi, thanks to the strong month on the coast. Still, one month isn’t enough to reverse the overall statewide downward trend.

The numbers exclude casinos operated by the Choctaw Indian tribe, which aren’t required to report winnings to the state.

Casino revenue peaked in Mississippi in 2007 and has fallen each year since. There was a brief improvement in early 2012, but the downward trend resumed.

Industry leaders have said that along the Mississippi River, Tunica and Lula casinos have suffered from competition from the expansion of gambling in Arkansas. The nation’s economic downturn also has been cited as a negative factor for the casinos.

– The Associated Press

Poole Re-Elected Head of Road Safety Group

Tennessee’s chief road safety official has been re-elected as head of the national Governors Highway Safety Association.

Kendell Poole, the director of the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office, was voted in to a second yearlong term at the association’s annual meeting in San Diego last month.

Poole was named director of the Tennessee road safety office by then-Gov. Phil Bredesen in 2006, and continues to serve in that role under current Gov. Bill Haslam.

Poole said in a release that his priorities will be addressing impaired driving, occupant protection and speeding. The association will also work with states to secure funding under deferral highway safety programs.

– The Associated Press

Wal-Mart to Expand Jobs for 70,000 Workers

Wal-Mart Stores is hiring 55,000 seasonal workers and is elevating 70,000 more to part- or full-time positions as the holiday season ramps up.

The world’s largest retailer said Monday that 35,000 temporary workers will become part-time and 35,000 part-time workers will gain full-time jobs.

The shift means that Wal-Mart will be offering more of its workers benefits. That’s significant because Wal-Mart has been a target of attacks by labor groups for what they say are skimpy wages and benefits.

Coming off a slower-than-expected back-to-school season, stores are bracing for a tough holiday shopping period, which accounts for as much as 40 percent of their annual revenue. Analysts study the holiday hiring figures from retailers for clues about employment trends and sales expectations for the holiday season. Stores typically begin to hire for the holidays in mid-September and ramp up hiring in mid-October.

Last season, Wal-Mart hired 50,000 workers and said it would offer more hours in general to its existing employees.